On the Germination of the Spores of Ferns. 343 
augescens, Link, Asp. concinnum, Link, Asplenium dissectum, 
Link, and other species not specified ; but the author states that 
the phenomena are constant in all the Ferns he has examined. 
Nothing further appeared on this subject until December 
1847, ane Dr. J. Miinter communicated to the Berlin Natur- 
forschende Freunde*, the observations of Count Leszezic-Su- 
minski; in January 1848 Prof. Ehrenberg also laid these before 
the Bean Academy, and in the same year they were published 
in detail in a special memoir}. 
These researches are in the highest degree curious, and if the 
facts related prove to be correct, must importantly affect the 
received views of analogies in the generative processes of plants. 
As the account scarcely admits of compression, we will give the 
important passages in the author’s own words :— 
The Sexual Organs of the Ferns. 
“Tn the year 1846 M. Nagelit made the interesting discovery 
that the pro-embryo of Ferns exhibits analogues of the anthe- 
ridia of the Mosses, Hepaticee and Charas. That observer de- 
scribed these antheridia or spiral-filament organs accurately and 
completely enough, but he was led away by a false principle in 
his researches, and thus regarded as differences in the stages of 
development what were actually different organs ; since both in 
their anatomical structure and physiological import, they are to 
be distinguished as two completely separate groups. 
“Tn the earliest condition of the pro-embryo are found on 
its under face, more rarely on the borders, peculiar gland-hke 
cells projecting in a globular form from the surface. In more 
mature age they increase in number, and occupy more particu- 
larly the region among the radicle fibres. Some species, espe- 
cially Péeris serrulata, ave remarkable for their great number. 
These organs originate by a sac-like elongation of particular 
cells of the pro-embryo, forming globular protuberances from its 
surface. Each at first contains chlorophyll, but by degrees a free 
cell is formed, the contents of which exhibit homogeneous mu- 
cilage, transparent globules, or distinct nuclei with nucleoli. As 
soon as this cell has increased in size sufficiently to fill up the 
original projecting sac, it is parted by a septum from the cell of 
the pro-embryo. Thus the organ becomes independent. A third 
cell is often formed between these, flattened above and below, 
constituting a kind of peduncle to the upper cell. The contents 
* A report by Dr. Minter appeared in the ‘ Botanische Zeitung,’ Jan. 21, 
1848, to which I shall allude presently. 
+ “ Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Farrnkrauter ;” by Count Leszezic- 
Suminski; Berlin, 1848. esc, 
